Why You Must Get Comfortable Feeling Uncomfortable.

As a result, people will go to great lengths to avoid situations that make them feel uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, that avoidance strategy is a killer of creating change, achieving the results you really want and living and working on your own terms.

Here’s why:

Change doesn’t happen by staying in your comfort zone. Change only happens by stepping out of your comfort zone.

And thereby lies the challenge.

To create change and strike out in new directions requires doing something you haven’t done before.

It means rocking the status quo. It requires deciding not to settle for mediocrity.

All those things can feel scary. It can bring up all sorts of feelings like fear, resistance and self doubt. And that feels uncomfortable.

So, unless you are willing to expose yourself to feeling uncomfortable you are going to stay stuck. Believe me, I tried for many years to change a number of areas of my life in my safe little comfort zone and it does not work.

It was only when I stepped out of my comfort zone that the really good stuff started to happen in my life, work and relationships.

You have to get out there and frighten the pants off yourself. You have to take risks. You have to feel fear and carry on regardless.

Here is something worth thinking about:

Thinking staying in your comfort zone is safe is a huge mistake. It’s not safe at all.

It’s not safe because you are risking a lifetime of just existing rather than living. You are settling for mediocrity in your life, work and relationships. That’s not safe. From where I’m sitting that is downright dangerous. It is a hell of a gamble to take with your one and only life.

The bottom line is this:

If you are serious about creating change you have got to get comfortable feeling uncomfortable.

If you are willing to do that the sky is the limit. You could transform your life, work and relationships. You could have the quality of life and fulfillment that you really want.

To me, that sounds like something worth feeling a little uncomfortable for.

So I invite you take a look at what sort of feelings come up for you when you want to create change or achieve different results. What do you need to do to manage those feelings so that you can learn how to get comfortable feeling uncomfortable?

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Comments

When I decided to leave the corporate world to follow my dream of working and living on my own terms I did a lot of preparing before taking the leap. I knew what had to be in place to make it safe for me to take the leap. However, once I had those things in place I still didn’t resign.

I was paralysed with fear. Fear of my plans not working out. Fear of where the income would come from. The feelings were keeping me trapped somewhere I didn’t want to be.

I know I would have to get to a position of being OK with all those uncomfortable feelings to move forward. So, I reminded myself I had put things in place to make the transition as safe as possible. Then, despite the sometimes overwhelming uncomfortable feelings, I did it.

It is without doubt one of the best things I ever did. It allowed me to create real freedom in my work and personal life.

If I had stayed in my comfort zone to avoid the uncomfortable feelings of change I would not have the life I have today.

Getting comfortable feeling uncomfortable was the catalyst to creating the life I really wanted.

Thank you for this article. Very inspiring and straight to the point. I struggle with this from time to time and it is always helpful reading an article like this to inspire me and give me motivation and hope again. Thanks Ali!

Think of it as a muscle Sue. The more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. It also becomes easier and easier when you see the results of stepping out of your comfort zone and into a bit of discomfort. Have fun playing with it.

That is so true Erin – the more we practice something the better we get at it. So we should proactively step outside our comfort zone so that we can get better at dealing with it and also feel the benefits that happen when we do.
Thanks for dropping by.

This article has changed my day and has been book marked for the moments that lie ahead when the fear and self doubt resurface.

From months of debating, planning and with total support from my partner, I recently resigned from a well paid job.

I am in the final week working my notice and the demons have been gnawing away to the point where I am regretting my decision. I have been trying to rationalize why I am not at peace. I now have time in my future to do the things I have sat in my office dreaming about; to find out what inspires me; to slow down and smell the flowers.

Your words makes sense. I am uncomfortable and I need to embrace this feeling.

I can so relate to those overwhelming fears – when I left the corporate world I was terrified. I put the decision off for months just because of fear and the discomfort of such massive change.

But since making that leap 11 years ago, I have learnt that feelings of discomfort, self doubt and fear are part of creating change. Those feelings are normal. It is how we respond to them that is important.